Fallout Equestria: Settlers Cry
by Argumedies
Summary: This is an un-official short story based off KKats Fallout Equestria. This is the story of Highlight and his family as they travel the wastelands in search of a new home in a world where survival is everything. 6/23 Chapter 1 has been revised and restructured
1. The Hard Road Traveled

**Fallout Equestria, Settlers Cry**

**Chapter 1. **

**The Hard Road Traveled**

_On the day we left, she called to me with a laugh and an echoed smile on her face, and in return, I had given her a tiny, painted on smile of my own. And for a brief moment, I had indulged myself in hope. Hope for my family and for our future. It feels like lifetime ago but I remember it all so clear now."_

...

Manehatten; the once proud pony city had turned to ash in the blink of an eye. Structures of steel, iron, and glass that once towered into the skies lay gutted, shattered, and silent upon the ground. Their skeletal remains twisted and distorted, stood frozen in eternal cataclysmic agony. Its inhabitants, nothing more than fragmented memories, shadowed upon broken concrete walls. Their stories, that once filled this city with hopes and dreams, ripped from the pages of time, and cast into the oblivion of history.

My father once told me that, 'change,' is the only thing that stays the same but like a cosmic beast, it is forever hungry. It feeds off our fears, flaws, and faults; it drives us mad and breeds deception, despair, and hate. Its offspring, war, and death, drown all those who are in their way. But the irony of change is that its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. For change by its very nature is imperfect. With every step it takes, it sets in motion events, upon which play out the truth of it's of its own inconsistencies, a pathway through which change can only go one way… forward.

To stand in front of change is to risk the paradox of annihilation; to survive its onslaught is to risk the paradox of existence, the paradox being, that for everything that has an ending, had a beginning.

My life began, not on the day I was born, but the day I met my beloved Chardonnay. On that day, down in that bunker beneath the streets of Manehatten, when the Balefire bombs ripped apart the fabric of harmony and obliterated Equestria, her smile has meant the world to me. She was a beautiful little unicorn with a long, light green mane above her tannish, off white coat and a matching grape and vine cutie mark and her deep forest green eyes always reminded me of days gone by, of days that will never come again.

I did not know her at the time, we were just two young ponies thrown together in the mix of chaos and discord that rained down upon us from above; I had shielded her from the fallout with my body as best as I could as our world destroyed itself around us. Deep within the darkened abyss of the shelter, we found comfort and companionship in each other's hooves and from that moment on, I vowed to protect her with my life from any harm that would befall upon us. As time went on, we quickly found love and happiness, and together we created life in a place that only knew sadness, bitterness, and loneliness. We made our home out of the bunker that we first found each other in and we took the time and fixed it up properly into a nice little underground cottage just big enough for the two of us. And for the time being, it was adequate for what we needed.

Our home lay just behind The Ministry of Arcane Science, the one building that stood alone as the sole survivor of the city's skyline in defiance of the extinction of change. The tower itself had become the central hub of the new world, the new Manehatten, and the survivors began rebuilding their lives out of the bits and pieces of the old world in vague attempt to bring harmony back to our traumatized world. At the base of the tower, a miniature city soon formed and crossed both inside tower and out. They called the new micro city 'Tenpony' and although I knew it had something to do with the original Ministry Mare, the significance always alluded me.

Slowly over the first few months, the residual Necromantic Radiation left over from the megaspell dissipated into pockets throughout the city and created various safe zones and we felt a bit victorious as city life renewed. Then one day, the skies grew dark as a thick blanket of clouds covered everything in sight and we stood there watching helplessly as the last rays of Celestia's beautiful sunlight faded into nothingness.

The months grew colder under the blanket of the Megaspellic Winter that followed and most of those who tried to live outside the tower had to seek shelter inside its walls. For those of us who stayed out, life was harsh to say the least, but even as the chaotic seasons played out over the next ten years things settled into normal patterns. As each of summers months came along, it warmed enough to melt the snow creating a season that allowed us time to venture forth and rediscover our world. But Inside the tower, life was another story.

Not that it was bad. They relocated and rebuilt many of the shops that were at first outside, into vacant storage spaces in the center areas and the upper levels given to those who could afford them, mostly government officials and important ponies, while the working class had quarters down on its lower levels. The new main entry was also going to be at the center where the old monorail system used to disembark its passengers long ago. You should see the size of the chandelier that they're going to make for it and it wasn't cheap either.

I should know; the newly formed government had given me the assignment that involved working as a as a bookkeeper and accounting file clerk within the government itself and they gave Char the task of growing plants in the hydroponics labs. She always had a knack with plants of all kinds so this was a natural choice for her. We had the only garden in our home albeit a small one; but despite that, we shared what we could for a small fee of clean water in order to keep the vegetable plants alive.

The first several years of living within the new community, our lives remained good compared to others less fortunate then ourselves. Our jobs allowed us access to things like better food rations and nightly security patrols. Now, even that was threatened. Food was running scarce, despite Char's best efforts at the hydroponics labs. In short, they were failing because there just simply was not enough fresh water left in the city and the reserves were running dry. The radiation had crept into the water supply and filtrations systems did not work properly so the government started pulling rations.

Then there was the government itself. Much like war, politicians never change and corruption was quickly becoming rampant. As bribe money flowed like a river, many laws passed without consensus of the population and rules became strict to the point of banishment from the tower. The peace and unity that we were working so hard for dissolved as ponies started fighting again only this time it was with themselves. It started small but soon arguments started turning violent and ponies started riots over food and water. Looting became common, as the guards turned a blind eye, not that I blamed them. It hurt to watch my fellow ponies go back down this path and I had hoped that those days were behind us, but I was wrong and in the end, I also, chose to ignore it.

As for Chardonnay and I, I cherished every moment of every day by her side. I loved her beyond measure and on the day that Jonathan was born, I felt my hopes and dreams soar once more and our spirits burned alive again and for that, alone I have no regrets. Nevertheless, day by day, things got steadily worse for us and it was starting to look as if the war had never changed anything.

Then there came the fateful day when Jonathan was about ready to start at the new school that I found out that a couple of young fillies were found dead in the school playground, murdered just a couple of yards away from a guard post but no one saw anything. I read the reports, their bodies were hung by their necks using the chains from the swing sets and then they were brutally beaten to death. I could not ignore it any longer, there was no way I could raise Jonathan up in a place like this, and Char and I agreed immediately, that we were going to leave.

When I first heard the news that one of the stables had opened up and that survivors from all over Equestria were flocking to the new settlement I had to investigate. The government denied it of course, but that did not stop me from trying. Then as luck would have it, I ran into a small group of ponies that had a map and I told them that if they gave me a copy that I could make it easier for them to work through the system in order to gain access to the outside.

I had hope once again. Now, there will be a new place to live. A place built from the ground up. A place we can call home where I can raise my family in peace and watch the return of harmony unfold and I was determined that we were going to be there before anyone else.

"I did not lie," I told to her as I placed the last pack onto the cart. "I got that information from a very reliable source."

"It's okay Highlight, I trust you," she told me with a smile and kiss to my cheek. "After all it's been ten years now, and you would think that they would be opening all the stables and start rebuilding and what better place to get a fresh start then in the place where it all started."

"And we can finally start to build that Vineyard that we have always dreamed about," I added

I grabbed my list and went over it for the umpteenth time and I started rattling off the list of things that were vital to whatever it was that I thought we might encounter along the roads. Being a former accountant helped in organizing our things but ever since I was a little colt, I was good at paperwork. I loved to write. It is how I got my little pen and paper cutie mark. It was hard to fathom that such a mark would fall on a brown eyed, sky blue earth pony with a bright yellow mane but Char loved it. She called me, "The Highlight in her life," and I believed her.

Twenty years ago, a pony born with bright colors was all the rage among Equestria's upper crust, as if one actually had a choice. My mother, also a unicorn, was a part of Manehatten's high society, and for years, all I heard was that dark colors meant you were poor pony trash. However, out here, looking at the edge of what everypony was now calling "The Wasteland," I wished I had those dark colors.

Mother was not in the bunker when the bombs fell, she refused to leave her high-rise apartment. The last words she spoke to me were that she would rather die here then to lower her dignity to be in a shelter with commoners. I guess she got her wish. I do not know what hurt more, the fact that she wanted to die alone, or that she did not want to live with me; I loved my mother but in the end, if things had not gone the way they had, I never would have met Chardonnay.

My father on the other hoof was an officer and died shortly after the war began. We did many things together in the short amount of time that I knew him. I remember him well and miss him very much. One of these days, I plan to write a book about my life adventures and about the war. Maybe after we get settled in at our new home.

We stood there at the edge of town, underneath what was left of the Celestia line in the early morning hours and looked off into the vast grey emptiness of the new world that lay before us. Equestria used to be lush, vibrant and full of life, now it lie cold, darkened, and decayed, and with my bright colors, I felt naked and exposed because I stuck out like a sore hoof. Nevertheless, I was upbeat and positive; I heard some of the other rumors that were going around, how war changes a pony and those who occupied that Wasteland but I wasn't going to let that get me down.

Although I will admit, this move had always troubled me right from the start and now I am leading my family into a vast unknown but I could not wait until we got there and things changed back to normal. We could not back out of it now. We traded out shelter for a wagon to hold everything we owned and sold everything we could not take with us.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well let's see if we've got everything. Food? Check. Clothing? Check. Medical and supplies? Double check. Weapon's?"

I pulled out my father's old service rifle and fumbled around in trying to load it. I do not understand how other earth ponies were able to do this without unicorn telekinesis. The design of the rifle was so that when you lay upon the ground or sat upon your haunches, you put your forehoof in to the trigger holster and then flexed the tip your hoof in a way that pushed up against a side trigger. Its only drawbacks was that it had a small magazine of about ten rounds of ammunition of which I only had three rounds and it had a bolt that was prone to jam. This had always been the trouble with this style of rifle but I was not worried, I had no intentions on using it.

I had never even shot a gun before, but when father died in the war, the military gave my mother the rifle along with his purple heart for his service to Equestria. A couple of years ago I returned to the place I grew up and I found it in a safe amongst what was left of my mother's things. I do not know why she saved it, she hated guns and I think the only reason she only loved my father was for his ties to the military. On the other hoof, maybe she kept it there for me to find as her way of saying good-bye to me with a way to protect myself when she no longer could. I like to think that deep inside she had a heart after all but either way, I will never know.

As I sat there and grumbled and griped about the weapon and as if right on cue, a light shined around the rifle as Char used her magic to help me load it. Then she placed the weapon back in its holster and placed it back in the wagon and I lovingly rolled my eyes because all she really did was prove my point. "What would I ever do without you my sweet?"

"Um, Highlight?" Char spoke to me with a bit of worry in her voice. "Do you really think that this will be necessary?"

"I doubt it," I said giving her another reassuring smile. "This is only for protection from things like spiders, snakes…"

"… Or giant mutated monsters! Rarrrrr!" Jonathan shouted as he popped up from inside the wagon. I actually jumped a bit and my heart skipped a beat. He got me. I was not expecting that but Char did and started laughing. My son, a little green earth pony with a short red mane and eyes glared at me like a cat ready to pounce on his prey. He was just barely a colt. He didn't even have his cutie mark yet but he was feisty and strong, just like his mother.

"More like little GREEN monsters!" I said as I turned and jumped at him pulling him off the wagon and started tickling him on the ground.

I let him go and rolled over and he climbed on top of my back "And," he continued, "If anything goes wrong, Big Macintosh will be there to save the day."

….

_"I remember now, I let out a small laugh as he jumped off my back and onto the wagon… little did I know…"_

….

Johnathan started digging through the stuff in the wagon undoing everything that took me and Char hours to put together, thankfully I knew what he was after and I placed it near the top, and he gleefully jumped for joy as he pulled forth his Smarty Mac doll. Big Macintosh was the hero of Shattered Hoof Ridge after all, and what young colt didn't want to be just like him? They had made the dolls in mass quantity a long time ago but many didn't survive the holocaust and I was lucky to have found that one buried under a pile of debris just after he was born.

….

"_He was, his hero; the colt practically worshiped the ground he walk on. He loved him so much it… well, almost made me jealous. Maybe that is why I never told him the truth. Kept saying, when he's older….but now… I… I couldn't tell him… heroes weren't supposed to…"_

….

"Eeyup!" I said in my best Big Macintosh voice, which in reality never sounded anything like him but it did not matter "No matter how bad things get, no matter how far away he is, he'll always be there for us, because that's what heroes do," I reassured him as I reached up and swept him into my hooves falling back onto the ground holding on to him in a big hug.

Char giggled at us but we both knew that it was time to get going. The sky started to brighten as daybreak approached. Back when I was a colt, you could watch the rise and fall of the sun and moon from here, but because of the war, those days were long gone. Now all you could see was the thick murky clouds holding on to every drop of sunlight with dragon's greed allowing us only a bitter taste of what was once taken for granted. It was the dry season right now but the monsoons would come back soon as winter approached and travel would be impossible after that so it was now or never.

I took one last look at the tower that had sheltered us for the past several years. Sheltered, no that was the wrong word; it was more like it loomed overhead as if I owed it something. Our bunker was no stable by any stretch of the imagination and that it lay just behind the Ministry building, but it was not until much later that I learned that we were just outside its magical shield when the megaspell went off.

I do not know how but it must have created a void where we were and the blast wave destroyed everything around us. At first, I too felt that optimism when we finally emerged only to watch it slowly die over time and now, the tower was nothing more than a constant reminder of the past; A monument to calamity. By all rights, we should have been dead but for some reason, inside that little pocket, it kept us alive. Not that I was ever ungrateful; I just never understood its purpose.

I stood there and proudly presented my paperwork to the city guard. He looked at us as if we were crazy but this was an official document and he gave the order to open the gates.

I hooked myself to the wagon and Johnathan climbed in with his Smarty Mac doll firmly clutched in his teeth. We had it all worked out. Char and I would take turns pulling the cart, the other would read the map, and in about a week, we should be on the outskirts of this new town.

As we passed through the gate, I remember the guard looking at me with one of the coldest looks I had ever seen and said, "Be careful, there are many dangers out there and there's no turning back."

I looked at him perplexed. I knew that this was not going to be easy and that you cannot take anything for granted. But for the first time since we started making plans I was strangely spooked. However, I wasn't about to let that stop us and I picked up the pace as we trotted out beyond the fences. If there were dangers then we would face them together as a family. My wife, my son counted on me and I was not about to let them down.

….

"_If only I had headed that warning..."_

….


	2. Happenstance

**Fallout Equestria, Settlers Cry**

**Chapter 2.**

**Happenstance**

_"Grey… The clouds above and the ground below, nothing but an endless sea of grey. Does anypony remember the sky? How incredibly rich, blue, and beautiful the sky was. And the grass, lush green fields of grass for as far as the eye could see. I remember them. It seemed like such a long time ago… a life time ago… our lifetimes…"_

…

The first day we were gone, despite everything, had to be the hardest, especially for Char. In order to make our way out of the city we had to follow the safe zone boundaries and that meant we had to travel through Fetlock.

Char was from Fetlock and it is where her family had died at the end of the war. Over the years, she had told me a lot about it, but it was on those nights when she would wake up screaming when I learned the most. While we both had the nightmares, hers played out like a symphony of terror. Many of them were about her parents, family, and friends, burning alive in the balefire flames, their voices, screaming her name repeatedly, and she had admitted many a time that she should have been there with them. The only reason why she was in our bunker that day was that her class was on a field trip to the inner city when the warning sirens went up as a battle ensued in one of the buildings; no one expected the megaspell bomb.

She had never gone back to Fetlock before now; the memories were too painful. We walked for about a half hour when I spotted her staring at a vacant part of the city streets. The only thing left standing was a burnt metal signpost with the words barely readable in the old paint. We were on the corner of "Bakers Street and Sugarlump Meadows," which is where I suspect she had lived.

I went to her and gave her a hug as she started crying, this was about as close to resolve that she was going to get. I knew he farther I got her away from here the better and when we got to our new home, we could start to rebuild our lives once more.

As we crested the last hill at the farthest point where we could see the city, my heart soared. We had fought off the heartache and pain by laughing and playing and we sang songs just like the days of old. By the end of the second night, we could no longer see the reflections of the city lights against the clouds, and as we passed the final marker of the Manehatten territory on the third day, I felt the weight of the world lifted off our shoulders.

Our map showed us that we were heading into a mountainous region as the night crept upon us. And surprisingly, we had entered an area that was still semi forested among the rocky terrain. Many of the trees along the trail so far still lay barren and scarred from the effects of the war and although the vegetation here was sparse at best, mostly shrubs and scrub pines according to Char, I was relieved to see evidence of nature's return even if it was only in trace amounts. The few plants that grew here were survivors much like ourselves; it was as if this area stood in defiance of what our kind did to it as each plant searched for its own place to settle in and grow. And much like those plants, I knew that somewhere out there was our place to call home.

The trail led us up a small hill at the edge of the mountain range and we chose a clearing to stop for the night that was somewhat protected by an outcropping of boulders on one side but to where we still could still see across the land on the other. Jonathan jumped off to play with his Smarty Mac in tow and I cracked my throbbing back as I un-hitched myself from the wagon.

"Oh I hope we can find a piece of land that's great for farming," Char said unpacking some things in the wagon. "So far I haven't seen much that can be done out here. That is, unless you 'want,' to spend the rest of your life piling up rocks in a field."

"No, no that's quite alright," I told her knowing that, that's probably what I was going to be doing anyways.

"Not that Vinney here couldn't do it," she said as she pulled forth a plant that she got from the lab and gave it a small drink of purified water. Vinney was a grape vine, engineered to withstand some of the poisons that plagued the lands. Vines were hardy and self-sustaining under the right conditions and it was to be our starter plant for our Vineyard.

I was glad she was taking care of it. I didn't have what they called, "a green hoof." I tried to grow flowers one time and they all died on me. She said it was because I never talked to them. What a ridiculous sentiment, "Plants don't have ears," I would tell her and she would usually reply with "Plants don't need ears to hear you, they can just feel you and will react to what's going on around them, and it helps them grow stronger." I always thought she was crazy but as long as she was happy. She can tend to the plants and I'll keep the paperwork on the amount of bits we were going to make off of it.

"No worries," I said. "I suspect that by the time we get there they will have everything cleaned up, including all the rocks, just waiting on new ponies to arrive."

"Do you think that there will be other ponies there my age?" Johnathan asked.

"I'm sure of it," I said. "In fact, you'll be going to school and have all kinds of friends to play with."

"Schoool! Nooo!" he whined, pouted, and gave me these big pony eyes with a frounny face.

"Aww come now. You've never been to school. How do you know you won't like it? School is where your mom and I learned about stuff," I said proudly.

"Then can I at least take Smarty Mac with me?" he said sulking.

"Um," I hesitated. "I'm not sure that they…"

….

"_I didn't want him to take it. At first I told myself it was because, "should something happen to it," but in reality, I hated it. That 'Doll,' was more important to him then everything… even me."_

….

"Oh of course you can take your Smarty Mac honey, everypony will love you and your Smarty Mac," Char said to him while looking at me and I sighed and gave in as Jonathan cheered and gleefully ran off to play.

Char closed her eyes and gave me a large smile. "Fine," I said in a grump. "I'll go gather some fire wood."

Later that evening as I sat there by the fire light, I kept going over and over some things in my mind while Johnathan and Smarty Mac played with a stick nearby and Char prepared an evening meal of bean and dehydrated daisy stew. I couldn't place a hoof on it but something was bugging me. So far everything has been going according to plan and we're all in high spirits but something was amiss and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out what it was and it wasn't until Char planted a kiss on my cheek did I finally snap out of it.

"Hungry?" she said as she passed me a bowl of the stew.

"Famished," I said. Actually, I wasn't that hungry. Not that I didn't want anything to eat, it's just I really hated her stew and my stomach lurched at the thought of eating it but I wasn't going to tell her that so I painted on another smile as I took the bowl and set it in front of me and took a nice big bite.

Jonathan on the other hoof wasn't so, hospitable. He fussed and gripped like all foals do and Char had to chase him down as he ran around the fire. But soon she had had enough and caught him up a telekinetic spell until he finally gave in then sat him down next to me and plopped a bowl in front of him.

He sat there, poked at the bowl with a hoof, and made faces until I told him he was eating maggot eggs, beetle brains, and other gooey stuff.

"Really?" he said almost interested looking down at the bowl.

"And if you eat slowly you can feel them wriggling around as you…" I paused as Char stomped the ground and gave me one of her nasty, angry looks. "Eat your food son," continuing as I took a gulp of my own. "I think I'll just quietly enjoy that little payback for earlier to myself," I thought.

It's not that she was a bad cook. I loved her cooking, and I know we had to do what we could with what we had but it really was horrible and so I was thankful that there was only enough for one bowl. But in the end, our bellies were full and everything was all right in the world as we settled in for the night.

We all sat there, huddled together next to the warm glowing embers of the fire. Side by side next to Char as Jonathan lay across my back nearly asleep. I leaned over to Char and started nibbling at her ear. She giggled softly as she leaned in at my attentions. "You know," I whispered." We could clear a spot for him in the back of the wagon and…"

Jonathan yawned and stretched. "What are you two talking about?" he asked still half asleep.

I immediately pulled away from her. "Oh I was just telling her of a time when I was a colt," I lied, "when my father used to take me camping up in the hills not too far away from here. I remember one time we went on a camping trip in the mountains shortly before the war started. He wanted to camp on one of the islands but we couldn't because a lightning bolt burned the spot where we were going to camp so we stayed on the main land. I enjoyed our two weeks together but later he told me that he didn't get much sleep worrying about bears and things. I saw lots of things on that trip but I never saw a bear."

And that's when it occurred to me. We hadn't seen anything, not a bird, not a rabbit, not a track of any kind. Not even the sounds of crickets in the night or the distant howl of a timber wolf crying out for Luna's light and suddenly, the world felt a little more, darker, colder, and silent.

"Do you think there are any bears around here?" Char asked slightly worried.

"No," I said. "I don't think we have to worry about bears."

Char relaxed a little and lay her head across my forehooves. I placed my head across the back of her neck and tried to close my eyes but for the first time since we started this, I was slightly un-nerved. Much like my father was back then only, not just, for what was out there, but for what wasn't.

…..

It happened sometime in the middle of the night when I awoke. Char and Jonathan were both fast asleep but I was able to pick myself silently enough as to not wake them. The campfire was nothing more than embers as I walked towards the edge of our camp and peered out into the darkness when the sound came to me again. It was the sound of a distant rumbling. It could have been a rock fall, we were heading into some steep terrain, but I could have sworn it was an explosion. The map showed us some areas where we would have to travel through some gorges but it showed that there was a distinct trail, but in the middle of the night, I couldn't tell if that is where the sound came from. I walked back to the others and pushed some dirt over the embers of the fire, extinguishing its light. I don't know why I did this maybe it was because of the other feeling that I got. A feeling that I was being watched.

…..

Morning was the same out here as back in the city, just a brightened illumination of the grey sky above but it was enough to see like any ordinary cloudy day. As I walked along I turned my head and gazed upon the sky, there wasn't even a hint that the cloudbank above was going to give itself in to even a modest clearing and sense there was no more Pegasus around to clear things up, we were left to drown in the dreariness below.

I didn't know much about them other then they lived in the floating city of Cloudsdale and that they kept the skies clear long ago. Some of the rumors that I knew of said that Cloudsdale had fallen from the skies while others say the Pegasus just left us to our fates. I didn't know nor did I care, I had never met a Pegasus before and I held no grudges against them, although, it would be nice to see Celestia's sun once again.

Jonathan has never seen the sun nor the moon. He was born into this cloud covered world but I suspect that when we get to where were going that they'll have a Pegasus or two around to clear things up and I look forward to the moment he sees that wonderful light from above for the first time.

We didn't make much headway that morning. The mountain trails were getting extremely tight as we passed through some narrow passageways. Some of the climbs were so steep that it took both our efforts just to get the cart up and over them. I knew I was out of shape, but I never thought it would have been this hard.

We were standing at the top of a ridgeline planning our next move when we heard it. It was a weak cry for help; some pony was out here and was close by.

"It sounded like it came from up the trail," I said.

As we rounded the next bend in the trail, we came upon a cart that lay crushed upon its side half buried under a pile of rocks that had fallen from the cliff above. So, there had indeed been a rockslide in the night and it must have caught this traveler by surprise. It was an older stallion, half buried under the rubble. Despite his predicament, his cart had taken the brunt of the fall protecting him from barrage of stones.

"Hold on," I yelled unhitching myself from the wagon then Char and I ran over to help. After Char levitated some of the boulders and debris away, I was able to shoulder the cart enough for her to pull the pony free.

He was still conscious and he moaned loudly as we got him out. "I think I broke my leg," he said and sure enough, you could see the swelling and discoloration of his left hind leg. He was a white and brown spotted earth pony with an all brown mane and tail with a rather odd cutie mark on his flank; it was a small bottle with what looked to be a small serpent wrapped around its base.

Char gave his leg a closer examination, "I'm not a doctor, but I think you got off lucky, it doesn't look broke, broke, but you definitely cracked it good.

"Well it hurts like hell," he gritted out between his teeth.

Hold still while I make a splint and you might be able to walk on it and as if right on cue, some long sticks and some wild vines appeared from the tree line with the aid of her telekinetic magic. Within moments, she had him wrapped up.

"Thank you," he said relieved as I helped him to his hooves, "I thought I was a goner for sure had you not come along." He hobbled on over to the wagon picking up an old western style hat that had been laying on the ground between his teeth and had managed to get it on top of his head with a quick flick of his neck.

"The names Mountebank but most ponies call me Monty; I'm a traveling sales pony heading for Manehatten. That there, was my cart of supplies and for your help I will gladly give you a discount on anything you need. So tell me, what bring you out here to the Wastelands?"

Char and I traded awkward glances over to one another "Pleased to me you," I said cordially yet cautiously "My name is Highlight and this is my wife Chardonnay and my son Jonathan. We happen to be on our way to settle in New Ponyville."

"Really?" he said smiling and tipping back his hat.

"I don't suppose you've been there."

"Oh yes, yes I have, I was there about a week ago. That's a really great place they got going on, lemmy tell ya, the way they got that place all fixed up, words can't describe it."

"What about all the ponies from the stable. They're all there, right? Is there enough food and clean water there for every pony?" Char asked.

"Well I don't have an exact head count Ma'am, but I'm sure they're all there. Working hard as they always have, buckin apples, laughing n singin. Fact is, they have the best tasting apples you'll ever put in your mouth and you'll always be able to make enough pies for everyone," he said.

"And do they have ponies my age!" Jonathan excitedly yelled out from the back of the wagon.

"Son, they have so many foals around to play with you'll never die of boredom, I garr-ron-te it," he yelled back at him.

"So the rumors were true," I looked at him perplexed.

"As sure as I'm standing here that every rumor you heard was true. But ah, this here trail isn't going to get you there," he said. "But, you're in luck and for a few caps I have just what you need."

"Caps?" I questioned.

"Bottle caps," he said. "It's the new currency out here in the Wastelands and they sure are worth more than those old pre-war bits."

We didn't… we didn't bring any caps," I said looking worriedly over at Char. "Back in Manehatten, they were still issuing bits as payments."

"No caps aaay," he said as he lowered his hat and pushed a rock off a crate then kicked it open with a forehoof.

"They probably gave you bits because a bit aint worth sh… Ah here's what I'm lookin for. They were probably hording all the caps for themselves until everyone figured it out on their own. Tell you what, because you're so nice in helpin a fella out and I'm feeling generous, for just a little bit of food and water I'll let you have this."

"What is it?" I asked looking at the device in his hooves.

"This little beauty is called a PipBuck," he said looking it over. "Got it off a fella when last I was in Ponyville, traded it for some ammunition."

"Looks pretty beat up," I said. "Does it work?"

"It's got a few things broken on it but those are nothing that you need, what's important is that the map features still works," he said. "And you never have to worry about it dying on you. It has one of them thare magic crystals inside powering it. It will last… well, an extremely long time.

I looked over at Char who look as nervous as I felt about all this. "Thanks, but we already have a map."

"The other important thing on here is," Monty said not skipping a beat and hobbling over to me. "See this here gizzy," he said pointing to one of the indicators. It was a cute little rainbow dial pointing at the green side of the scale behind it. "That thares a radiation detector. Ifin it starts headin for the red, you'd better run the other way but as long as it in the green you know you're okay. And I can tell you right now that this map of yours is taken you right into place that's still hotter n the blazes that put it there and you would never know it until it was too late."

I stood there and pondered our situation, "I sure didn't want to take my family into radiation zone, a detector was the one thing I knew I needed but couldn't afford, even where I was at in the government. But the ponies I talked too assured me that this trail would be safe but honestly, I really don't know if any of those ponies back there in Manehatten had ever been outside the walls before. This old pony has been out here, if anyone would know, he would, but I can't give him anything, we need all we can get, how can I work this to our advantage… is there anything I can afford to be without?"

"Tell you what." I said. "I'll trade some food but not water, I have some ingredients to make to make one of the best tasting bean and daisy stew you've ever had, deal?"

He looked at me for a moment, "Well that's not how I usually do business but you drive a hard bargain, and because of everything that's happened plus the fact that I am getting kinda hungry," he spit into the bottom of his hoof and held it out to me, "you got yur self a deal."

Only slightly grossed out I did the same and we shook hooves.

"Excellent," he said and pushed his hat back again.

….

After we said our goodbyes to Monty, I sat on a fallen log and fidgeted with the PipBuck now shackled to my forehoof. Monty told me that it needed to be on some pony for the device to work properly, what he didn't explain that there was a locking mechanism on it once you got it there. The device itself was dented, the screen cracked but useable, and I was sure the hole that was in it wasn't a part of the original design. It was no wonder why the owner wanted to sell it but I couldn't figure was that Monty must not have made much on the deal sense he was so willing to trade it for some food rations.

My knowledge of Stable-tech engineering was limited at best to the few terminals we used in the offices. There was no pony around with the knowledge of those Arcane Sciences and I was no techno pony by any stretch of the imagination but I remember finding some schematics at the time and was able to rig something up that worked… most of the time.

This PipBuck was another matter; these devices were a closely guarded secret given to stable ponies alone. I only knew them by name and never thought I would see the day that one would actually be on my forehoof but I was convinced now more than ever that there had been indeed a stable open up. My guess was that this pony might have been soldier that damaged device but instead of fixing the old one, they may have just issued him a new one.

It felt weird having it there never having worn one before. It was a little heavy and a bit snug for my likening and Char had to stuff some cloth down the side so it wouldn't chafe. I cleaned it up the best I could and poked at a few buttons on the dial. A garbled picture of a pony displayed on the monitor as its sensors inside the cuff did their things, I came to the conclusion that while some of the information I could not read, the overall portion showed that I was in perfect health. "Ya, tell that to my aching back."

I switched it over to the map and it began to draw out a small portion of the area that we were located. Monty told us that there was a second path and that there was a small settlement that wasn't far from here; a good days walk, and beyond that lay our destination.

I checked the paper map against what the PipBuck showed and discovered that there was a split along the trail just past the second mountain range. The PipBuck also showed us that the other path led along the valley floor and strait to an un-named village which must be the one Monty, had spoken. The trail then turned north again through another pass and at the very edge of the map about another half a day's trots, it showed another village clearly marked Ponyville. "I guess Monty was right, see… it pays to be kind to others," I said as I folded the map.

Through the valley sure looked to be the safer of the two routes and I was all for not having to climb any more of these hills; Char agreed. So we packed our gear and set out in the early morning hours as soon as we could see the trail. I figured once we made it to that valley, then things should go smoothly from there.

….

"_Damn myself for my own ignorance…._


End file.
